Horological Meandering

Horological Architecture
Journée du patrimoine horloger La Chaux-de-Fonds

The present town of La Chaux-de-Fonds was very much formed by the watchmaking industry, its production forms and manpower needs.  But also by city officials who tried to put the then known "best practices" directly to work for the good of their town and its inhabitants.

In the 19th century the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds was very prosperous because of the horological trade around the world.  In 1870 La Chaux-de-Fonds had about 4500 residents occupied directly in the horological industry, about half its population.  Without the horological industry La Chaux-de-Fonds would have remained a simple agricultural village like so many of its close neighbors.

The village of La Chaux-de-Fonds was burnt to the ground in the fire of 1794.  But the people of La Chaux-de-Fonds learned from that fire how not to build a city: buildings huddled close together, no space between buildings, poor access routes and flammable materials.  The new La Chaux-de-Fonds was to be a healthy, light town with space and fresh air for all its inhabitants.  It took a certain time for these principles to be put to use, immediate reconstruction was of course needed after the fire.  But the largest part of La Chaux-de-Fonds is built in a grid pattern with space for vegetable gardens in front of each row of houses, aligned to get the most sunlight.  The streets and sidewalks are wide for fire protection and also to have space for the prodigious amounts of snow that needs to be shoveled each winter.  It was the plan Junod which officialized this town planning in 1835.  The typical building of the time in La Chaux-de-Fonds is 4 or 5 stories, austere, with little decoration and including both apartments and ateliers.  Often the top floor had big bay windows to allow even better lighting in the workshops.  This aerial picture from the site of the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds shows the town typical architecture and the layout of the town very well.

(© the commune of La Chaux-de-Fonds, used with permission)

At the end of the 19th century the wave of l'Art Nouveau appeared in La Chaux-de-Fonds as in other affluent cities across Europe and the Americas.  With its schools teaching the decorative arts, largely as needed for the horological industry, the architects in La Chaux-de-Fonds developed their own variant called the "Style Sapin" (Pine-tree style).  The best known architect coming from this school in La Chaux-de-Fonds was the world famous Le Corbusier (familiar name, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) who was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1887.  L'Art Nouveau left a major mark on the town with many of its present buildings heralding from this epochollowing, some examples.


(© the commune of La Chaux-de-Fonds, used with permission)


(© the commune of La Chaux-de-Fonds, used with permission)


(© the commune of La Chaux-de-Fonds, used with permission)


(© the commune of La Chaux-de-Fonds, used with permission)


(© the commune of La Chaux-de-Fonds, used with permission)

For the recent Journée du patrimoine horloger (Horological Patrimony Day) I took the train up to La Chaux-de-Fonds to take the walking tour of architectural patrimony.


Arriving in the train station, La Chaux-de-Fonds


Frescos in the train station




See the watchmakers ?


Outside the train station


Walking from the train station to the MIH we pass the Musée des beaux-arts which has an amazingly good collection considering this is not exactly Paris.


The entrance of the MIH, Musée international d'horlogerie


Forming groups in front of the MIH for the walking tour


My group passing in front of the MIH Carillion, of course we were just 2 minutes late to hear it chime.


Our first stop on the walking tour after crossing the train tracks behind the MIH is here at the Universo factory.  Up through the '70s the factories were built there where the workers lived, in the city.  Todays new factories on the outskirts of the town force all their workers to take their car or a bus to work.  
Universo is a company that has been making watch and instrument hands for almost 100 years.  They have expanded and are now also a major supplier to the automobile industry for the hands on dashboard dials.  They were originally founded in 1909 as a group of small hand-making workshops to have more bargaining power.  Since the year 2000 they have become a part of the Swatch Group.  The factory on the right was built in the early '50s and enlarged with the building in the background in the '70s. 
In order to attract manpower the owners built modern apartment buildings right across the street.


Here, taken from the same spot as the previous picture, is the "Cité Universo".  At the time it was necessary to work at Universo to get one of these appartments.


Further up the street, this is the present Singer dial factory.  Originally built in the late '50s it shows a representative entry on the right to impress suppliers and customers and a typical multi-storied, big windowed shop area to the left.


Our walk continues through one of La Chaux-de-Fonds many parks.


This park includes several Art Nouveau pergolas as well as a band shell in the same style.




This watch factory built in 1905 is in the Style Sapin and includes many influences from the local Jura mountains, including the materials used.  As can be seen it is now in renovation and will be converted to residential use with  lofts.  Following is a picture of the entry with oak woodwork and stained glass details.




A continuation of the same building, the ateliers have a simpler architecture and have larger windows to get more light.


Note the complex and typical Style Sapin roof construction.


As was usual, the factory buildings are right next to apartment buildings for the employees.


A juxtaposition of a factory building from 1905 and a smaller one from the 1960s.


La Chaux-de-Fonds trivia quiz question 1)  What is the "Bikini-Test" pointed to by this road-sign?


After crossing the railroad bridge we arrive in the Quartier des Usines, the factory quarters.  Here a typical building with apartments on one side and workshops on the right.  Late 19th century.


This name may be well known on this forum.


Another exmple of dual use, apartments on the right, workshops on the left.  The company that I use for rhodium plating is on the top floor on the left.  I have always wondered how they could accept to have a galvanic company working with poisonous liquids in a residential building.  Now I understand, that side of the internal stairway is all industry.


Taken from the same spot as the 2 pictures before.  Here the workshops were on the ground floor, the owners living on the first.


A typical late 19th century apartment house.  The apartments are traversing to have fresh air, big windows for light, enough space for a garden in front of the house and ateliers on the top floor.


The factory of watches Bonnet in Art Nouveau style.  On the right business rooms and apartments of the owner, on the left the workshops.


Factory ornamentation in Style Sapin.


More Art Nouveau decoration.  A portion of the stained glass window in the stairwell can be seen below.


(© the commune of La Chaux-de-Fonds, used with permission)




Here again it is easy to see the separation between the workshops on the ground floor and the apartments above. Again late 19th century.
This was the end of our tour, we then wandered back to the MIH along the Avenue Léopold-Robert, la Chaux-de-Fonds main street, to see the exhibition of related professions shown in some of my recent posts.


La Chaux-de-Fonds trivia quiz question 2) What is the height to which the trees on the Avenue Léopold-Robert, the main street of La Chaux-de-Fonds, are pruned ?

Following some pictures taken from the train on the way down to the valley from the heights of La Chaux-de-Fonds.


The Alps seen from the Val-de-Ruz




The Chateau of Neuchâtel


Vineyards toward the lake.  Getting near home, the end of an interesting day. 
Ready to break out a bottle of local wine to start the evening off right.
I hope you have enjoyed...

Don Corson, 16.11.2007